Automatic device for returning carriages for type-writing machines



No. 606,669. Patented July 5,1898. w. E. JACKSON, 16.

AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR RETURNING CABRIAGES FOR TYPE WRITING MACHINES. (Application filed Mar. 12, 1897.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l-.

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No. 606,669. Patented July 5, I898.

W. E. JACKSON, In. AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR RETURNING CARRIAGES FOR TYPE WRITING MACHINES.

(Applicatidn filed Mar. 12, 1897.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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I UNITED AT FIFE} WILLIAM E. JACKSON, JR, oF AUeUsraeEoReIA.

AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR RETURNING CARRIAGES FOR TYPE-WRITING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 696,669, dated July 5, 1898.

' Application filed March 12. 1897. Serial No. 627,162. (No model.)

, To all whom'it may concern.-

valve shown in Fig. 3 in a different position,

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. J AOKSON, J r., of Augusta, in the' county of Richmond and State of Georgia, have invented a new and Improved AutomaticReturn for Type Writer Carriages, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in type-writers, having for its object the provision of an automatic return for the carriage, by which it will be returned and the paper shifted for a newline, either by'reason of the carriage reaching the end of the line or by the operation of a shifting-key.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a top plan view of'a type-writer with my mechanism attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of a type-writer, showing my mechanism partiallyin section. Fig. 3 is a detail view of a modified form of valve that may be employed between the cylinder and the vacuum-chamber. Fig. 4 is a view of the and Fig. 5 is a detail view of the sliding-joint connection between the carriage and the pa per-feeding mechanism.

My invention consists, essentially, of a cylinder having its piston connected with the carriage of a type-writer, the cylinder being connected by suitable pipes having a valve therein with an exhaust chamber or reservoir, from which the air is exhausted by'any suitable or desirable means.

The valve, which is located between the cylinder and the exhaust chamber or reservoir, is connected to the ordinary mechanism of the type-writer, so that it will be opened by the forward movement of the carriage when it has reached the end of the line. It is also connected with a lever-key, which may be operated by hand to return the carriage from any point. The carriage is also provided with a lever which acts as a stop to check the carriage at the end of the return and is connected with the paper-feeding mechanism, so that the feed-roller is actuated thereby at the end of the return, thus feeding the paper the amount of the spacing between lines.

" The frame of the type-writer in the drawings is indicated by the letter A, and the frame of the carriage by A. This has not been altered at all by the application of my device. The stop-bar, which is the bar to which the movable stops are applied which limit-the travel of the carriage, is the bar as used with the Remington -No. 7 type-writer. This consists of a bar which is notched upon one edge, as at a, and provided with the movable stops B, which are adapted to be locked thereto at any point and engage the trip 19, which is pivotedto the frame of the carriage and provided with 'a counterweight I), which holds the same down in operative position or raised in inoperative position, the same being the usual construction.

I have made use of the trip I) to actuate my automatic return mechanism. Thebar B is mounted in bearings at its ends so that it has a slight longitudinal movement, the same being communicated through contact of the trip b'with one of the stops B. The under side of the bar B is provided with two small pins b which engage the upper end f of a lever F, which is pivoted to the frame A. This lever F is connected at its lower end by means of a link F to a rod e, which passes through a stuffing-box into a valve-chamber E. This valve-chamber E is provided with a valve E, which is shown as an ordinary slide-valve. Any form of valve which may be opened and closed by a reciprocating movement may be substituted for this form of valve.

The valve-case is connected by means of pipes E and E with a cylinder P and vacuumchamber G.; The cylinder P is mounted upon the frame A'and has a piston P with a stem P extending outside one end of the 'cylinder. This stem P is connected by a link P, which may be of wire or any suitable form, to a lever P, which is pivoted at its-lower end to the base of the frame A. The upper end of the lever P is connected by a link P with a pin P upon the carriage or by any means which will enable it to return the carriage. This link P should be stiff enough to enable the carriage to be promptly returned without the link bonding.

The vacuum-chamber G consists of a shallow box, which extends entirely beneath the base of the type-writer and is connected, as before stated, by a pipe E with the port c of the valve-case E. It is also connected by a branch g of the pipe I) to a vacuum indicator or gage g, placed upon the front of the type-writer, so as to be constantly visible to the operator. The vacuum-chamber G is also connected bya pipe G with some mechanism for exhausting air. A convenient mechanism to be used for this purpose is an exhaustpump operated upon the injector principle and using water from the ordinary watersupply or from any source of supply having a pressure of not less than five or ten pounds. I have indicated such a device as this at I, the water-supply pipe being shown at \V and the discharge-pipe at V. This device is a simple one, which maybe operated wherever a water-supply is available and is not likely to get out of order, besides being cheap in first cost. Any device which will exhaust the air from the chamber G may be used.

At C Fig. 9, is indicated the ratchet-wheel, which is attached to the spring used for feeding the type-writer carriage. This is connected by a tape C to an arm 0, attached to the carriage and feeds the carriage along as the keys are operated. The wheel II and lever 11 are those of the ordinary mechanism used for securing the intermittent feed, which latter mechanism is that of the ordinary typewriter.

The carriage is carried to the right of Fig. 2, but to the left of the machine, by the action of the ordinary feeding-spring. \Vhen the carriage reaches the end of its travel in this direction, it will engage the movable stop B and give the bar B a slight longitudinal movement toward the right. This will, through the engagement of the pins 0 with the upper end of the lever F, move the valve E to the left sufficiently to uncover the port 6. The travel of the carriage to the right has resulted in the movement of the piston P to the right in Fig. 2 in its cylinder. Vhen the valve E has uncovered the port 6, the cylinder P is placed in com munieation with the vacuum-chamber G. In consequence of this the air within the cylinder Pis suddenly exhausted, being drawn into the chamber G; The pressure of the air upon the outer side of the piston P will then force the piston to the left, carrying with it the carriage. The cylinder P should be of such a size that the pressure obtained in this way will be sufficiently large to quickly overcome the power of the carriage-feeding spring. To prevent resistance from the piston P during the forward-feeding motion of the carriage, I have provided the valve E", controlling an opening into the cylinder P. This valve E can be set so that there will be a slight leak into the cylinder,which provides fora supply of air, which prevents the retaining of the vacuum behind the piston during the forward-feeding movement of the carriage. As the carriage returns to the left in Fig. 2 the bar 13 is also returned to the left by the carriage engaging the stop 13, which is at the left, and the valve E is moved to close the port 6 through its connection therewith by means of the lever, thus breaking the comn1unieation between the cylinder P and the vacuum chamber G. The bar 13 and valve E remain in whatever position they are left until moved by the engagement of the carriage with the bar B at either end of the travel of the carriage. Instead of usinga valve of this character a three-way valve maybe used, the valve-case being connected by means of pipes E and E with the cylinder and the vacuumchamber and having an opening E communicating with the atmosphere. This form of valve is provided with an operating-lever E. In one position, as shown in Fig. 3, the valve is set to make communication between the cylinder and the atmosphere and in the other position, as shown in Fig. +t, to connect be tween the cylinder and the vacuum-chamber. The opening in the valve IE will be sufficiently small to not materially reduce the vacuum in the cylinder P when it is conneeted with the vacuum-chamber G, but sufficiently large to permit air to pass as the piston is moved slowly outward by the action of the carriage.

To secure a forward feed of the paper by the return of the carriage, l have devised the following mechanism:

Upon the bar A located upon the rear side of the carriage, is mounted a sleeve L, which is free to rotate upon the bar, but restrained from longitudinal movement thereon. Upon this sleeve is mounted a bell-crank lever, the outer end of the arm L being placed so as to engage the stop 3 when returned. The other end L of the lever is connected by a link L with a lug K, placed upon the paper-feeding mechanism. The connection shown for this is as follows: The lug K has a hole for the reception of the link L, which is slightly larger than the link and allows the free movement of the link therein. The outer end of the link is provided with lock-nuts L, which restrain the movement of the link L. As the carriage is returned by the cylinder the end of the arm L strikes the stop l3. This results in pulling down the link L", which byits connection operates the paper-feeding mechanism. This paper-fecding mechanism is the ordinary device which is operated by a rearward movement of a lever .l. The amount of this feeding mechanism may be set by adjustment of the device ordinarily used for such purposes. The form of connection described to this lever J is to allow for the va riations in distance between the end of this lever and the end of the lever L which follows when the carriage is raised in order to expose the writing. As the end of the lever L is at one side of the bar A upon which the carriage pivots, the distance between the point K and the end of the lever L will be less when the carriage is raised than when it is in its working position. In this case the link L will simply slide through the hole in the lug K and accommodate itself to the variable length. 7 p

' It is evident that the chamber G instead of being operated as a vacuum-chamber may be operated as an air-compression chamber and the connection of the pipe E be made to the cylinder, so as to act upon the opposite side of the piston P. The same result may also be obtained by varying the outside connections between the cylinder and the carriage, so that thepiston-rodwill act under compression instead of tension. The use of this chamber as a vacuum-chamber is, however, preferable, as it avoids a number of difficulties which would arise in using'it as a compression-chamber. In the first place it obviates any necessity for a valve to relieve or regus latethepressure. 1 V

The pressure of the atmosphere will be am: pie for all purposes, and in using the chamber as a vacuum-chamber this pressure cannot be. exceeded.v It is also possible to obtain an efficient andcheap exhausting device when it cannot be as easy to obtain an air-compres sion device. I do not, however,'wish .to be limited to using my device solely in connection with an exhaust-chamber, as it is evident that it may be as well used in connection with in the matter is that the device should be operated by a forward'movement of the car riage.

I have also shown a device by which the valve may be opened at will with the carriage in any position. This consists of a bell-crank lever D, which is connected by a clamp D or in any other manner to the bar B. i This bell-crank lever is connected bya lever D to a lever D which is pivoted at its center and extends forward, having. a key D placed close to the keyboard. When this key D is depressed, the bar B is carried to the right, so

. as to operate the valve E to open the port e.

The connection of the lever D te the valve E may be made in numerous ways. The desired point is that there shall be a lever placed so that it may be operated at will and con nected with the valve E, so as to open the port 6.

The vacuum-chamber. G might be removed from the type-writer and connections made therefrom to the pump-cylinder P by a pipe; but the location shown is preferred. The airexhausting device may be located wherever convenient, even at-ia considerable distance from the type-writer. Connections therefrom to the vacuum-chamber G may be readily made from any distance by a small pipe, which will be unnoticeable and can be located in any position. The form and location of the power-cylinder are capable of great variations Without in the least changing its principle or function, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting my invention to the exact construction herein shown.- Neitheris it essential what means are used for exhausting the air from the vacuum-chamber or for pumping the air if a pressure above the atmospheric is used. I have referred to the water-jet pump, because that is a simple and cheap device, which is applicable in most 10- cations and may be operated by any one and cannot get out of order. Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1 1. A carriage-return for type-writers, comprising a cylinder having its piston connected I to the carriage, a pneumatic reservoir, means actuated by the carriage at one end of its travel to connect-the reservoir andcylinder,

and means similarly operated for disconnect- 3. A carriage-return'for type-writers, com

prising a cylinder having its piston connected IIO to the carriage,'a pneumatic reservoir, and

means controlled by the travel d of the carriage for temporarily connecting the reservoir and cylinder, said cylinder having a connection of small area with the outside air which can be closed at will substantially as described.

' 4. In a carriage-return for type-writers, the combination of a Vacuum-chamber, with a cylinder having a connection of'sm'all area with the atmosphere which can be closed at will, the piston of said cylinder being connected to the carriage, connections'from the cylinder to the vacuum-chamber containing a valve which is normally closed, means for automatically opening the said valve by the travel of the carriage, and means controlled by a key for opening said valve at will, sub stantially as described.

5. A carriage-return for type-writers, comprising a pneumatically-operated device connected to the carriage to impart the return movement to the same, means for throwing said pneumatically-operated device into action, and means actuated by the return movement of the carriage for throwing said pneumatically-operated device out of action, substantially as described.

6. A carriage-return for type-writers, comprising a cylinder having its piston connected to the carriage, a power-reservoir, a valve adapted to establish communication between the cylinder and reservoir, said valve being normally closed, means actuated by the carriage at one end of its travel to move said valve to connect the reservoir and the cylinder, and means similarly operated to move said valve to close the communication be tween the reservoir and cylinder at the end of the return movement of the carriage, substantially as described.

7. A carriage-return for type-writers, comprising a cylinder having its piston connected to the carriage, a power-reservoir, a valve arranged to establish communication between the cylinder and reservoir, the said valve being normally closed, a lever connected with the valve to open and close the same, mechanism controlled by a key for moving said lever to open the valve, and means connected with the lever and operated by the travel of l the carriage to close said valve, substantially as described.

8. A carriage-return for type-writers, comprising a cylinder having its piston connected to the carriage, a power-reservoir, a valve adapted to establish communication between the cylinder and reservoir and normally closed, a bar mounted upon the machine to have a limited longitudinal movement, a lever operated by the movement of the said bar and connected with the said valve to open the same, and means controlled by a key for moving said bar, substantially as described.

9. A carriage-return for type-writers, comprising a cylinder having its piston connected to the carriage, a pneumatic reservoir, a connection between the reservoir and the cylinder, eon tainin g a normally-closed valve, a bar mounted upon the machine-frame to have a limited longitudinal movement, stops upon said bar, a trip carried by the carriage and adapted to engage the said stops on the bar to move the latter, and a lever operated by the movement of the said bar, and connected with the said valve to move the same to connect and disconnect the cylinder and reservoir, substantially as described.

10. In a carriage-return for type-writers, the combination with avacuum-chamber, and mechanism for exhausting air therefrom, of a cylinder having its piston connected to the carriage, connections from the cylinder to the vacuum-chamber containing a valve which is normally closed, means for opening said Valve at will, and means for closing said valve by the travel of the carriage, substantially as described.

11. In a carriage-return for type-writers, the combination with a vacuum-chamber, and mechanism for exhausting air therefrom, of a cylinder havingits piston connected to the carriage, connections between the cylinder and vacuum-chamber containing a normally closed valve, means actuated by the carriage at one end of its travel to open said valve to connect the reservoir and cylinder, and means similarly operated for closing said valve by the return movement of the carriage, substantially as described.

12. In a type-writer, the combination with a carriage provided with a power-return, of a sleeve mounted to turn upon a bar located upon the rear side of the carriage, a bell-crank lever mounted upon said sleeve, a stop adapted to engage one end of said lever at the end of the return movement, and a link connected at one end to the other end of said lever, the opposite end of the said link having a sliding connection with the paperfeeding mechanism, substantially as described.

13. In a type-writer, the combination with a carriage provided with a power-return, of a sleeve mounted to turn, a bell-crank lever mounted upon said sleeve, a stop engaging one end of the lever at the end of the return move ment,a perforated lug on the paper-feeding mechanism, a link connected at one end with the said lever, the other end of the said link extending through the perforation in the lug and having free movement therein in one direction, and means for limiting the movement of the link in the opposite direction, substantially as described.

14.. In a type-writer, the combination with a carriage, of a power-return normally inactive, a lever pivoted at its lower end to the frame of the type-writer, the upper end of said lever being connected with the carriage, a connection between the power-return and the said lever, a bar mounted upon the machine-frame, to have a limited longitudinal movement, stops upon said bar, a trip carried by the carriage and adapted to engage the said stops 011 the bar to move the latter, projections from the under side of the said bar, and a second lever connected with the powerreturn and engaged by the said projections, the said lever being operated by the movement of the said bar to throw the power-return into and out of operation, substantially as described.

15. In a type-writer, the combination with a lever pivoted at its lower end to the frame of the type-writer and connected at its upper end with the carriage, of a pneumatically-operated device connected with said lever to impart the return movement to the carriage, a second lever pivoted to the frame of the type-writer and connected with the said pneumatically-operated device, to throw the same IIO into 61- out of operation, means for moving nected with the said lever, connections from the said chamber to the cylinder containing a normally-closed valve, and a lever connected'With the said valve and operated by the movement of the carriage to open and close said valve at opposite ends of the carriage travel, substantially as described.

WILLIAM E. JACKSON, JR.

Witnesses;

G. M. MOLAUGHLIN, S. O. IIAYEs. 

